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Yetminster
Yetminster maps
Historic maps of Yetminster and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Yetminster maps
Yetminster area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Yetminster and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Yetminster
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memories of Yetminster.
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The Garage in Yetminster
Yes, the garage I remember was owned by O.C.C. Curtis...I remember the little pocket calendars my father used to receive when he filled up his green Hillman Hunter car there in the 1960s and 70s.
Evacuated
My mother and I lived in Laurel Cottage for the duration of the Second World War. I seem to remember it was next to the pub. I had a friend called Peggy. Her parents had a farm and I seem to remember it being in the village. We used to gather nuts from the hedgerows. I was 4 when we left but isn't it funny how happy memories linger. Anne
Me Remembering My Youth
I remember when Yetminster had farms and no yuppies, I also remember when there was a garage and two schools which I went to both of in the late 1940s. We also had 2 proper pubs. I still have relatives in the village, oldest of which is 96, and some cousins. I hope someone remembers me, so long.
Dorset memories
My Childhood Memories
I was born at Drive Villa, Melbury Osmond in 1938, my parents coming both from London. But my father had a music shop in Yeovil.
My memories of Melbury Osmond are very happy ones, we had a school then infants and juniors, the school's still there as a house now. We had a shop and a post office and a bakery round the back.
The cottages were for the farm labourers who worked for the tenant farmers as Lord and Lady Ilchester owned most of them. Today that is all gone and so is the wonderful community as most of the cottages and farms have been bought or leased to weekenders from London etc.
When the war times came we had Americans in Melbury Park and I used to swing on my front gate waiting for the Yanks to throw sweets to me, I was too young for the nylons. On Sundays we would go to watch them playing basket ball in the park.
My mother who had a... Read more
Leigh VC School
The village school was very small and later converted into a home, but I will always remember Mr Riley the headmaster, an ex-Policeman who drove a very flashy sportscar to school (Equipe- something on the badge?) The pupils were mainly farmers' sons and daughters and we did lots of crafts from cardboard. I remember seeing my first black person there, a student teacher from Guyana, who was very nice lady. I also remember a Mrs Hoskins and a Mrs Ball who gave me a Penny Farthing stamp on an envelope that I later lost unfortunately...probably worth a fortune today! There was also a wonderful man called Mr Goldsack who came in and taught us to grow vegetables in a little plot next to one of the buildings and it was a lot of fun. I left for secondary school in 1972 in Sherborne and I think the village school closed soon afterwards.
Living in North Street in 2008 After The Fire in 2005
This photograph is wonderful for me to see having just moved back into Bumblebee Cottage on the far right of the picture after the catastrophic fire on 22 December 2005 that destroyed 4 cottages - Bumblebee Cottage, Hollyhocks, The Old Chapel and Virginia Cottage. My cottage looks the same from the back, the front will feel and look the same once I have replanted the front garden. Inside it is beautiful. All brand new but old at the same time. And the best news is that thanks to the intervention of English Heritage we still have four listed properties rather than four modern constructions made to look old with a bit of stone cladding but essentially constructed of breeze blocks and plastboard rather than random rubble - and all because the Loss Adjustors tried to save money for the insurers. But they were rumbled! Once again North Street looks nearly as it should. We still await the owners of The Old Chapel (where the fire started) and Hollyhocks to return.... Read more
Living in North Street Bradford Abbas 1960s
As a child I lived in North Street, Bradford Abbas. The name of the house then was Hilou. We were led to believe it was because our only toilet then was at the top of the very long garden. It later turned out that the cottage once belonged to two sisters called Hilary and Louisa. Since then the name has changed.
We lived on the right hand side going down the street. My dad thatched the house once and also a well in the back garden. I can remember enormous spiders coming out of the thatch and in the bedroom windows. Just before our house was one sideways to the road, called Heartsease Cottage as far as I can remember. This was the home of Evelyn Dainty who was a midwife. We kept goats and as children were often seen walking them around the village. I remember returning from school to find Miss Dainty being midwife to one of the goats who had gone into labour early. I can... Read more
